More 'eyes' to catch parking offenders

More than 80 locations across Singapore will be monitored round the clock for illegal parking by September.

The Housing Board installed closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras at 55 carparks late last year - in estates such as Bedok, Choa Chu Kang and Toa Payoh.

Come April 14, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will switch on cameras at 10 more locations where illegal curb-side parking has been rampant. It will add cameras at another 10 locations in June and at 10 more by September. They will operate 24/7.

"Prominent signs will be put up in the monitoring zones to remind motorists against parking illegally," an LTA spokesman said.

Of the 1.4 million or so public feedback messages the LTA receives each year, illegal parking ranks alongside electronic road pricing as the major issues.

The LTA said the CCTV rollout follows successful trials in Beach Road and Marine Parade Central. "The use of CCTV has proven to be effective in deterring illegal parking, which has helped to improve traffic flow in the area," the spokesman added.

An HDB spokesman said "the illegal parking situation has improved", adding that "as at March 2014, about 31,000 cases of illegal parking have been caught via our CCTV systems". That is estimated to be 25 per cent of all parking tickets issued by the board a year.

For instance, at Block 504C, Canberra Link in Sembawang, motorists visiting the area's 24-hour coffee shop, clinic, lottery outlet and minimart used to park illegally along the service roads. Since the cameras went up, such offences have fallen by about 85 per cent, the HDB said.

And at Block 787A, Choa Chu Kang Drive - near an eating house and minimart - the number of illegal parking offences has more than halved since the cameras were installed.

The LTA and HDB will roll out more cameras if the need arises.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority - another major carpark operator - said it has no immediate plans to deploy CCTVs. But a spokesman said: "We will be learning from LTA's experience to consider if we can also deploy similar technology for enforcement."